Incoming! Visconti Pininfarina carbon graphite

[Formulansx]

Wow where to start with this one. I had to send the first one back due to the plating flaking off. This one I have now needed about 2hrs of work to get the stub nib to write. It's super smooth now but will dry out using heavily saturated blues and black even while closed. I'm going to need to send this one back for work probably after August. The cap is getting really wobbly. I still love the pen though. It's a very interesting pen to see in person and it definitely has a personality. The 18/8 stainless nib is not super interesting though. No real flex in a stub. It is a fun pen overall. The styling is about as futuristic as it gets and I really just enjoy looking at it.

[Formulansx]

Another pic. I'm having trouble loading more than one pic in a post.

[Formulansx]

One more.

[Formulansx]

So so slightly unfortunate $&@! Happened the other day. The pen fell out of my pen case from about a foot off of my desk. Looks like the bezel on the front of the pen is slightly dinged. You can't really see it unless under magnification but I know it's there and it's bugging me too no end. I'm going to blend it out and re plate the part in platinum. Pretty sure it's palladium plate now but platinum will go over stainless and palladium without issues. I took the front end of the pen apart tonight. I can see now why it was so spendy. The entire structural part of the pen is machined out of carbon fiber. The tubular nib is also threaded into a sleeve that inserts to the converter. This doesn't look easy to make. Downside is I think my dream of forming a palladium nib to fit this pen is dead since it would have to thread into the insert. I'll post some pics tomorrow and investigate further. Also there was ink all over the trap door that seals the nib and feed from air when closed. I would say tearing down the pen should be routine maintenance after seeing all the dried ink in there.

[Formulansx]

I went a little nuts tonight and decided to fix the bad runout on the cap trim on the Pininfarina. This pretty much meant I took about 80%+ of the pen apart to figure out what was going on. The problem ended up being the plastic tube bonded with epoxy to the cap metal trim. I suspect they threaded it too tight into the trim and it tilted. This is the second Pininfarina I've had and the first did not have this problem. While I was at it, I found the cause of the swiveling nib issue due to the screw in sleeve not being clocked at the end of the swivel. I just turned the collar so it did not have slack in the direction the nib always turned and seemed to have fixed it. EDIT: if you're left handed you might be screwed here. Maybe a small amount of shellac on the threads or very very very light hold loctite. This is a really scary pen to take apart the first time since it's so weird and crazy expensive. I was, once again, sweating it. There's really zero info on this pen so hopefully this helps someone in my situation one day. Here's some disassembly pics and info along the way!

[Formulansx]

Overview of the bezel removed. The screw closest to the serial number removes the bezel from the pen. The next screw is threaded into a square nut that holds the trap door/flat spring to the bezel. There's a pin in the top of the bezel that fits into the carbon body so when you remove the bezel, just slide it out. Pull in the direction of the length of the pen body, not up and down. Basically in the direction the nib slides in and out of the pen. I predict bad things happening to the pin if you do this wrong.......and you need that pin!!

[Formulansx]

Nib and feed removed from the threaded collar. It just unscrews. You could actually fix the rotating nib issue by just unscrewing the nib/feed without removing the bezel. You might need a non marring tool to hold the trap door down to reinstall/ turn the collar if you don't remove the bezel. The nib is pretty well fixed and staked to align in the tubular nib. Didn't take this apart. The feed looks like a standard Visconti feed for larger nibs.

[Formulansx]

Turn this collar to clock the threads of the nib biased to stop your nib rotating issue.

[Formulansx]

The twisting mechanism. This didn't want to come apart so I let it be. You have to remove the 4x flat screws in the pen body next to the cap trim to remove this. I ground a screw driver to the right size to do this. Really wish Visconti would have done this. All the screw heads were a little narfed. I'm going to pull all the screws and refinish the heads eventually. I kind of think this pen was beyond Visconti's comfort zone. That or they hired out assembly/design and someone else built the pens.

[Formulansx]

Bottom of rotating assembly retracted.

[Formulansx]

Thankfully I've found pen companies, so far, generally use light adhesives that come apart with heat. I used a full mug of water microwaved for 2min with the collar in hot water for 30sec to pull the cap and trim apart. Just screw the hot assembly on the pen and pull on the cap. It took me about 45 min to find out the black plastic tube was tilted. This aligns to the inside of the fineal I think. No mater what I did, I couldn't get rid of the gap on one side between the collar and carbon cap. I sanded the OD and eventually used a heat gun and tweaked to straight. I saw this by turning the plastic tube and trim ring while on the pen and watching it orbit the converter This fixed the bad cap/trim gap about 90%. I was sick of working on the pen and ran out of time for now. I used lacquer and painted the trim ring and sleeve then pressed the trim into the cap. Re install the cap on the pen and open the nib so it's out. Turn the cap until the Pininfarina logo on the cap aligns with the clip. Once the cap bonds to the trim, you can close the nib past the small "click" and the fineal will still align to the clip when closed as well That's all I've got for now. This is a very different pen and I've honestly spent hours on it just to bring it up to my own personal standards. It really should have been built better to start with especially for how crazy a$$ expensive they are. Once it's sorted though, it is a very cool pen to have in a collection. It's just a lot of work that I don't even think a nibmeister would want to tackle. It took me months to get the courage/irritation up to tear into this thing. I have to add though that it's nice to be on the same page as the Italians in predicting how they "might" build a pen. I'm glad they don't seem to do anything permanently. Everything looks to be serviceable with a small amount of heat.

[Bisquitlips]

Originally Posted by Formulansx

Wow where to start with this one. I had to send the first one back due to the plating flaking off. This one I have now needed about 2hrs of work to get the stub nib to write. It's super smooth now but will dry out using heavily saturated blues and black even while closed. I'm going to need to send this one back for work probably after August. The cap is getting really wobbly. I still love the pen though. It's a very interesting pen to see in person and it definitely has a personality. The 18/8 stainless nib is not super interesting though. No real flex in a stub. It is a fun pen overall. The styling is about as futuristic as it gets and I really just enjoy looking at it.

What in the hades are you trying to start among us!??!!??

That is a lovely and most desirable FP. Thanks for posting the verbose photos.

It is now on my A list!

[Formulansx]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

What in the hades are you trying to start among us!??!!??

That is a lovely and most desirable FP. Thanks for posting the verbose photos.

It is now on my A list!

Thank you Sir. It's been a long ride with this pen. I found a Visconti Millennium Arc in medium for an unbelievable price that I'm planning to swap nibs with. That pen has a medium tubular smartouch nib and I'm fairly certain it will thread into the Pininfarina. The stub nib has been drying out so I'm going to put the stub on the Millinium Arc and the medium on the Pininfarina. A stub doesn't suit the Pininfarina very well due to the closure and the confined nature of the clip over the section. I'm hoping a properly capped stub will not dry out.

[Rogdogg]

[QUOTE=Bisquitlips;6919946]What in the hades are you trying to start among us!??!!??


This made me laugh so much. It is exactly what I thought to myself when I saw another thread. He's some man! but it's great to see.

[Formulansx]

[QUOTE=Rogdogg;6975623]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

What in the hades are you trying to start among us!??!!??


This made me laugh so much. It is exactly what I thought to myself when I saw another thread. He's some man! but it's great to see.

Sorry guys! I blame bisquitlips for at least 2 Omas purchases and you did bring it to my attention that the Visconti millionaire was on sale! I'd say we're all complacent in my pen insanity lol. In other news I have 3 incoming pens right now that I'm completely to blame for lolol. I have to add that 2 were great deals and the 3rd cheaper than anywhere else but not by much. The most important thing here is have fun!!

[Formulansx]

Also I should add to this project. I sanded and polished the ding in the front bezel trim out from me dropping the pen on my desk taking it out of the Omas sleeve I stored it in. The bezel is brass and not stainless. I'm positive it's nickel plated and then palladium flashed after that. I fixed the issue and then nickel striked it. I had access to a rhodium plating bath so I used that instead of palladium. Looks like new now. On such a small part, the brightness of rhodium looks like any other platinum group metal save for ruthenium. All that's left with my minor annoyances about this pen is to "shim" the nib rotating assembly (4x screws in pen body) with shellac to center the cap when screwed back in. Then I'm done! It's been emotional

[Lion]

I know I'm way too late to this party…..but my first thought was Formulansx, how much did you have to pay for the O.R. Room time and the Anesthesiologist???

I'm glad to hear that after your Health Insurance kicked in their portion you are now happy with the end result…..

Take care…..Leo

[Formulansx]

Originally Posted by Lion

I know I'm way too late to this party…..but my first thought was Formulansx, how much did you have to pay for the O.R. Room time and the Anesthesiologist???

I'm glad to hear that after your Health Insurance kicked in their portion you are now happy with the end result…..

Take care…..Leo

This pen has raised my blood pressure at least 10 points

[Formulansx]

My super discounted Millinium Arc came in and my nib swapping plan went.......exactly to plan. That tubular nib is actually a really good idea the more I dig into it. All you have to do is just unscrew it. I got a little froggy and pushed the feed out of the stub nib to clean it. Super easy! I needed to make a slight turn to the collar to align the new medium nib to the clip but that's easy as well. The medium nib on this pen is the way to go. The stub is just not as much fun with the clip confining your fingers. Also the ink draw of the stub dried the ink in the feed on a regular basis the way the trap door was designed. It doesn't seal all that well. The medium has been great so far and there's even a small amount of spring to it. If only Visconti made a gold tubular nib!!

[Formulansx]

One more thing. I ended up losing that pin that aligns the bezel to the pen body while polishing despite knowing how much I didn't want to lose that pin. I wasn't thinking at the time of polishing I made a new one from moly rod stock and epoxied it in with aluminum based epoxy. Seems pretty legit and the bezel is mounted nice and solid. Got lucky there!!

[Formulansx]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

What in the hades are you trying to start among us!??!!??

I'm trying to awaken the sleeping dragon that is TRF pens and writing instruments forum!!

[Lion]

Glad to know that after Physical Therapy…..the patient is going to live!!!

Btw…..can you maybe order another medium nib or what other size of
nib that you want from the manufacturer to replace the 'Stub Nib' which
dries out too fast for you???

[Formulansx]

Originally Posted by Lion

Glad to know that after Physical Therapy…..the patient is going to live!!!

Btw…..can you maybe order another medium nib or what other size of
nib that you want from the manufacturer to replace the 'Stub Nib' which
dries out too fast for you???

I'm pretty sure Visconti/Coles of London would sell the nib separate. I did find one in Europe but it was not exactly inexpensive like their standard format steel nibs. I ended up getting the Millennium Arc to swap nibs so now I have two pens for a little more than the cost of just a nib. The Millennium arc was obscenely inexpensive on sale. Couldn't resist.

[Lion]

I can see the addiction sickness of owning and using fountain pens has "hooked you line and sinker....."

But the rewards of using fountain pens on a daily basis does bringer the user enjoyment and satisfaction!!!

It also allows me to practice Cursive Writing as the ink flows so freely and easily upon the paper utilized.......

Take care.....Leo

[orlandoboom]

This has been on my want list for awhile but a friend of mine complained of the fit and finish vs other special Visconti. Seems you have had experience with it too. It is the most beautiful of the retractable fountains though!

[Formulansx]

Originally Posted by orlandoboom

This has been on my want list for awhile but a friend of mine complained of the fit and finish vs other special Visconti. Seems you have had experience with it too. It is the most beautiful of the retractable fountains though!

It is a great pen but it does have many faults. All the torment of a v12 Ferrari without the Ferrari lol